When Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons steps down at the end of the year he will be able to spend more time with his favorite hobby: making top quality wine in Tuscany.
Several years ago, Parsons acquired the Il Palazzone vineyard in Montalcino, which included three hectares of vineyards and at the time produced 4,000 bottles of wine each year.
According to Wine News, Italy's ''Pocket Wine Website'', Il Palazzone today produces some 20,000 bottles.
Despite his vineyard's significant output, Parsons insists winemaking is just a hobby and told Wine News: ''Believe me, we keep most of the wine we produce for ourselves and our friends''.
His winemaking partner, Swiss manager Mario Bollag, confirmed this and explained that their motto was ''Drink as much as you can, and then sell what's left!''.
Aside from the area's prized Brunello wine, Parsons also makes Rosso di Montalcino and has developed his own 'Super Tuscan' called Lorenzo and Isabella', named after his parents.
The wine was developed together with the Terra del Sole vineyard and is a blend based on Cabernet Franc and Sangiovese grapes.
Parsons recently told Wine News that he chose Montalcino ''first of all because I really love Italy, its people, its food and, naturally, it's wine''.
''Tuscany is one of the most beautiful places in the world and if you ask anyone where they would most like to live, 90% would have Tuscany on their list,'' he added.
''When I decided I wanted to buy a vineyard I began my search from Lucca and then went on to Florence and Chianti. When I got to Montalcino I finally found what I was looking for,'' Parsons said.
Parsons, 59, discovered wine through the late Nelson Rockefeller, who offered him his first important job when he was governor of New York.
Rockefeller took Parsons with him when he became vice president of the United States under Gerald Ford and it was through the Rockefeller family that Parsons entered Time Warner, joining its board in the early 1990s after a successful decade as a lawyer.
Parsons became chairman in 1995 and worked alongside CEO Gerald Levin in the operation which led to the landmark acquisition of internet provider America Online (AOL) in 2000.
Levin left his post in 2001 and Parsons was successor.
Although he will be leaving his post as Time Warner CEO, Parsons will remain as chairman of the board of the group which also includes HBO, CNN, and New Line Cinema.
Parsons is a member of a growing number of successful foreigners who are trying their hand at making wine in Italy.
Simply Red's flame-haired leader singer, Mick Hucknall, has a vineyard on the slopes of Mt. Etna in Sicily where he successfully produces a red Nero d'Avola wine named Il Cantante, The Singer.
Jim Kerr of Scottish rock band Simple Minds also has a Sicilian vineyard.
French actress Carole Bouquet has a vineyard on the island of Pantelleria where she produces the island's famous dessert wine 'passito'.
Legendary US singer-songwriter Bob Dylan has lent his signature to a wine produced at his request that has proved to be a hit.
Created by the Le Terrazze winery in the Marche, it was named after his 1974 album Planet Waves.
